Khunrath’s Cosmic Rose

“Heinrich Khunrath (c. 1560 – 9 September 1605), or Dr. Henricus Khunrath as he was also called, was a German physician, hermetic philosopher, and alchemist. Frances Yates considered him to be a link between the philosophy of John Dee and Rosicrucianism. As a disciple of Paracelsus, he practiced medicine in Dresden, Magdeburg, and Hamburg and may have held a professorial position in Leipzig. He travelled widely meeting John Dee, at Bremen, and Edward Kelly in Prague.

His brushes with John Dee and Thölde and Paracelsian beliefs led him to develop a Christianized natural magic, seeking to find the secret prima materia that would lead man into eternal wisdom. The Christianized view that Khunrath took was framed around his commitment to Lutheran theology. He also held that experience and observation were essential to practical alchemical research, as would a natural philosopher.

His most famous work on alchemy is the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom), a work on the mystical aspects of that art. Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae is an alchemical classic, combining both Christianity and magic. In it, Khunrath showed himself to be an adept of spiritual alchemy and illustrated the many-staged and intricate path to spiritual perfection.”

To the first, they shall be sacrifice and prayer;to inferiors, they shall be hymns.

YHVH, Onemaker of all.They shall have the ministries of other powers.

For if the prayer shall have gone to Inferiors,unlessthey be Delegates of the first, itshall not be a Ministry.

Henry Khunrath Lips. A lover of God, and medical Doctor, by the grace of
God, inventor. Paulus vonder door [Paul van door], Antwerp. carved in
Hamburg. In the year of the birth of Christ 1595. In the month of April.

Khunrath’s “wonderous method” was Christian-Cabala exemplified by the Amphitheatre’s first diagram, sometimes called the Sigillum Dei (Seal of God) or Sigillum EWmet (Seal of Truth) an also The Cosmic Rose. He defined Christian-Cabala as “Theosophically alloted symbolic Reception of Divine Revelation”, and is the primary element of his work. Khunrath’s major source for Christian-Cabala is the work of Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522), a German scholar and author of De Verbo Mirifico (Wonder working Word) (1494) and De Arte Cabbalistica (1517), being most explicit in this Diagram.

At center, Christ cruciform, yet resurrected (Reintigration/Restoration), above the fire of the Holy Spirit, surrounded by: Vere Filius Dei Ipse – Truly, He is the Son of God

Then: In Hoc Signo Vinces – In this sign conquer, the motto of Emperor Constantine.

…and the Pentagrammaton – YHShVH, Yeheshua, on five large flames; Reuchlin’s Christian-Cabalistic name of Christ – the worder-working word and Name above all names. This word is described by Khunrath as

the Seal, vanquishing and putting adversaries to flight! The wonder-working Pentacle. both of the five letters and wounds of the wonder-working Word! The powerful Almadel!

In the ring of clouds, at zenith – Ain Soph, the Limitless and at Nadir – Emeth, Truth and the 10 sephiroth: Kether, Chokma, Binah, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkuth. Surrounded by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet; from which both the world and the Torah were generated according to the Sefer Yetzirah (book of Creation).

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God…

CLOUD 2

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

CLOUD 3

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God

CLOUD 4

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

CLOUD 5

Thou shalt not kill.

CLOUD 6

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

CLOUD 7

Thou shalt not steal.

CLOUD 8

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

CLOUD 9

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house,

CLOUD 10

thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

At the top is the Divine Tetractys, a triangular figure consisting of ten points arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row, which is the geometrical representation of the fourth triangular number. As a mystical symbol, it was very important to the secret worship of the Pythagoreans. The Hebrew Tetractys in a similar way has the letters of the Tetragrammaton, YHVH, inscribed on the ten positions of the tetractys, from right to left. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with its ten spheres of emanation, is then connected to the tetractys.

About the author: Stephen Murtaugh is now in retirement and spends his time making esoteric tools, specializing in Rosicrucian ritual gear, including diagrams, posters, wands, temple furniture and Rose Cross Lamens.

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